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summer in the city

(IMPORTANT CAMPAIGN NOTE: The story we are now sharing with you all is a story in progress, and it has been for a while. Summer in the City was not originally conceived as a podcast, but a private game between friends. We started recording our sessions when we were already well into the campaign, originally just as a note-taking measure. The first episode of our show, the first session ever recorded, is a one-on-one onboarding session between the DM and a newly joining player. We hope you can enjoy the show despite any potential gaps in listner vs player knowledge resulting from starting this podcast with the story already in progress)

The Story So Far

Welcome to the world of Southland: a hybrid between our modern day reality and the fantasy settings imagined in Dungeon and Drangons' fifth edition. Los Angeles, but filled to the brim with magic and its casters, streets populated with elves, orcs, tieflings, and more. The entertainment industry is dominated by high-level bards, healing potions can be found in your local pharmacy, and necromancy is a major you can choose at your local college.

It’s summer in LA, and as the heat radiates in waves off the pavement the city pulses with life. But despite all the usual excitement the season brings, this year it comes with a sense of unease. People in the city have started going missing at Griffith Park, and the whole community is on alert.

Stefani, Cass, and Azaiah (along with former party member Haywood) were brought together when they witnessed a kidnapping at Union Station, tracked from Griffith Park by beloved drag queen and local do-gooder Maya Moreno. After an unsuccessful attempt to thwart this abduction, Maya brings the group in on her efforts to investigate the disappearances and hopefully bring the missing people home. All three agreed, sharing different motivations for joining the cause. Azaiah’s own grandmother was taken, and he's determined to see her rescused. Cass is a high school teacher, and became particularly invested after a kid the same age as his students went missing. And Stefani, a celebrity gossip blogger, started poking around the case after a major influencer turned actress, Mika Bennet, was the most recent to disappear.

Since their fateful meeting on July 3rd, Cass, Stefani, and Azaiah have uncovered various clues that point them towards a shadowy New Age religious movement known only as The Church. An apparent member of this movement, a man known as Dean McPherson, seems to be leading whatever it is their plan is. And Dean is certainly more than who he appears to be. An image captured with Stefani's magic camera, with the ability to see through illusions, shows that his true appearance is much different than what the world sees; in fact, Dean may actually be a disguise behind which the long-dead founder of Hollywood, HJ Whitley, is hiding.

Talia Hirsch, meanwhile, is also searching for their lost best friend Ileana, another person who disappeared at Griffith Park. They're a monk in the Order of Sol, a coalition of of quasi-vigilantes dedicated to protecting LA from magical threats, of which Maya is a high ranking member. Tal will soon learn the depth of the conspiracy taking place in their city, and join forces with the others to bring the missing people home.

LA Factions

The City Arcane Research Collective: Founded in the 80s by Mercedes Guzman as a sort of companion organization to the Los Angeles Occult Society, the CARC is a wizard-led group of scholars dedicating to studying the magic of LA from an almost scientfic perspective, evaluating how it can be best used to improve the lives of LA residents.

The Original Los Angeles Occult Society: Founded over a hundred years ago, this orginzation exists mainly to document and preserve the magical history of the city. This is a mainly sorcerer-led group, currently run by Ricardo Moreno. He added "Original" to the front of the title after the passing of his wife Mercedes, when the CARC began to stray from her original mission.

The Order of Sol: A group of monks that take on an almost vigilante like role. This group is VERY controversial. Heroes to some, villains to others. The order is exclusive to those born and raised in LA and is extremely secretive. Currently the Order is being run by Grand Executor Pablo Guzman, the semi-estranged brother of Mercedes. Maya Moreno, his niece, serves as the Order's Warrior Optivus, the highest rank a monk can gain in the order below Grand Executor. Currently the Order is experiencing a schism, as Pablo is taking action that many of the monks, including Maya, strongly disagree with.

The Church: The Church is a country-wide organization that’s been around for decades. It was started by a man named R. John Webber, an incredibly prolific author and egomaniac. The whole church hinges on his “teachings”. It’s currently run by Michael Greene, an older British man who comes across as very practical and convincing in interviews. Members of The Church also often answer to a man named Dean McPherson. It's not clear what his role exactly is, he just kind of showed up one day and started being treated as very in charge. He also appears to be dating Janessa Hansen, The Church's current celebrity darling.

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CHARACTERS

Player Characters

Cassius Faustus is just a guy in his twenties. His parents are both professors of magic at esteemed universities, he is a wizard from a long line of wizards, and he is currently employed as a TA and substitute teacher of maths. He has never been convicted on an assault charge. Cass is a high elf, multiclass divination wizard and champion fighter. He’s a 27 year old cis man, he/him, he’s mixed race and he’s just a guy from Boston

Azaiah Danilo Vazquez is a gogo dancer at West Hollywood's hottest Western themed bar, Flaming Saddles. He was introduced to the queer nightlife scene by Maya Moreno, and calls her mother out of respect. Azaiah's family has lived in Boyle Heights since 1910 and thus he has strong sense of community imparted by his grandmother, Aida, and his mother, Maritza. He has a long history of activism focused on hunger, housing, and police brutality. Azaiah is a human college of eloquence bard. He’s 26 year old gay man who uses he/him pronouns. He is multiracial, with Black, Mexican, Comanche and Cantonese heritage being preserved through heirlooms and stories from generation to generation.

Stefani Perez is a 25 year old female high elf (she/her) inquisitive rogue and ghost in the machine warlock. She is third generation Mexican American but is pretty disconnected from the culture--you could probably blame that on her growing up in Orange County. She runs a widely followed celebrity gossip twitter as well as an accompanying blog site. While successful, she isn't always the most pleasant in social situations. She is an expert at extracting the exact information she needs to dig up the hot goss.

Talia Hirsch doesn't know exactly what they're doing, but they're working on it. Tal is a Way of the Astral Self monk in the Order of Sol, and helping Maya out on missions brings them a lot more fulfillment than their day job at Starbucks. Right now, they're preoccupied with trying to find their childhood friend Ileana Amarillo, who has gone missing. They...haven't been sleeping much. Talia is 25 years old, bisexual, and nonbinary, they/them. They are white Ashkenazi Jewish.

Michael was born the first child of Clarice and Jonathan Weber, and had a pretty normal childhood, up until he was 10. His Mom and Dad got a divorce, over a great many things but primarily Jonathan having an affair with his best friend Caden. This heightened emotional state made her an easy target for the cult, one invitation to make her life better and she took it, taking the kids along with her. Up until about 5 years ago, their father has shared custody with Clarice, but he went missing, so Clarice has had full custody. Michael planned to leave the cult when he turned 18 to look for his father, but stayed behind to protect his sister Rosalie, who is now 13. Since then, their best friend within the cult went missing, and their mother and sister were taken as ransom by Dean as incentive for Michael to kill the Angelinos. Micheal Webber is 19, non-binary (He/They), and are white with German, Austrian, and Dutch ancestry. They are a Divine Soul Sorcerer and Life domain cleric.

Non-Player Characters

Maya is a beloved drag queen in the LA scene who moonlights as a vigilante. She’s a half elf drunken master monk who’s known in many circles as “Mother Maya” for her loving and protective energy. She's also a senior member of the Order of Sol, recently named the Warrior Optivus. Maya is a bisexual trans woman of Afro Puerto Rican and Taino descent. She’s 45 years old and currently single, although maybe she has a little thing going with a woman who’s running for city council.

Ricardo Moreno Calderón, known better as Ricardo Moreno. The loving father of Maya Moreno and current head of the Original Los Angeles Occult Society, or OLAOS. He’s an Eladrin elf modified Aberrant Mind sorcerer. Ricardo took leadership of the OLAOS after the former leader and his mentor retired. His wife, Mercedes Guzman, founded the City Arcane Research Collective, which she lead until her passing several years ago. He tacked on “original” to the OLAOS after leadership of the CARC started to go in a direction he disagrees with, switching from being mainly community funded to taking funds and input from the local government. Ricardo is heterosexual and cisgender. He’s 80 years old and of Afro-Taino descent, and I’m sorry his picrew looks Like That, if I had my way it wouldn’t, but there aren’t a lot of options for old men.

Beck is a theater teacher at Hollywood High School who moonlights as a monk in the Order of Sol. They are also the roommate of Cass, as well as his occasional coworker when he teaches as a substitute. They’re an Air Genasi, Way of The Shadow monk. Beck has a complicated and painful family history that they mostly try to ignore, dedicating themselves to uplifting their students instead. They’re a very gentle person with a kind heart, but they also won’t hesitate to defend the people and things that they love. They’re a bisexual non-binary (they/them) person of Southern Chinese descent.

Nobody really knows very much about Dean—where he comes from, what he does for work, etc. He was first spotted by player character Stefani as the apparent boyfriend of celebrity Janessa Hansen. When he’s seen in public, they’re always together. The party has determined he has some connection to The Church, a shadowy organization that touts itself as a new age religion focused on self-improvement. And he’s almost certainly not who he appears to be—a picture taken by Stefani with a camera that can see through illusions revealed him to perhaps be the long-dead HJ Whitley, founder of Hollywood.

HJ Whitley is often credited as the founder or “Father” of Hollywood. He lived from 1847 to 1931, a businessman and real estate developer said to have founded over 140 towns in his lifetime. This guy is supposed to be pretty super dead, but a photo taken with Stefani’s Sleuths Polaroid, which can see through illusion and transformation magic, revealed that he might be still living—or back from the dead—wearing Dean as a disguise. Cass also received a call from HJ after the party found a business card for him on the ground when they were investigating. During this call, while Whitley did not outright take credit for the missing people, he did offer to return Azaiah’s missing grandmother. in exchange for Cass’s roommate, Beck. This puzzled the party, as many of the missing people (including Azaiah’s grandmother) are sorcerers, and Beck is a monk.

Janessa Hansen is an Instagram influencer turned model turned actress. She's the current It Girl of Hollywood since her breakout role as the star of Rocket, a thrilling drama about the daughter of a billionaire who gets trapped with her best friend on a ship bound for outer space. She's vocally a member of The Church, and is their current celebrity face. She's often seen in public with Dean McPherson, who she appears to be dating. Janessa is a half-elf warlock, 28 years old, a cisgender woman (she/her), and is of Swedish-American heritage.

Ileana is a nurse at Cedars-Sinai hospital and the best friend of player character Talia, one of the missing people the party is searching for. She’s a tiefling and a sea sorcerer. Ileana is a very shy and soft spoken young woman, but she’s also got extremely strong convictions. She grew up in the predominantly Jewish Beverly-La Brea district, but in her teens she protested a lot with Boyle Heights organization ¡Basta Ya! Nothing in the world means more to her than caring for others. Her work in activism and organizing led her to becoming a field medic at protests which then inspired her to go to nursing school. When not working, she still volunteers her time this way. Ileana is a Sephardi Jewish cis bisexual woman with family from both Spain and Morocco. She and Talia have gone to synagogue together since they were very young. Her family is a long line of either sorcerers or bards.

Aida, or Adelaida Teresa Rosado Hernandez, is the grandmother of player character Azaiah. She is a human divine soul sorcerer. She is a very kind and loving abuela who Azaiah is very close to, and she’s one of the missing people the party is investigating. On an expedition to Griffith Park, Azaiah found a necklace of hers charged with an altered version of the sending spell. She and Ricardo Moreno are courting each other, they go for coffee and on walks around the neighborhood (Boyle Heights). Her favorite pair of earrings is one he made for her. Aida is a 77 year old mixed race Indigenous Mexican woman.

Ethan Aranovsky III, or Threethan as he is only ever called by himself, is the childhood best friend of player character Cass. He’s a triton necromancer. He comes from a long line of other necromancers, including both his parents, but he doesn’t really get along very well with his family. His parents are incredibly wealthy—his great great great great great grandmother founded a necromancy college in London and his family has been basically set ever since. The only time he’s ever left Boston was to study abroad for a year at that school, but after about 5 months he missed home so much he had to come back. He’s a vegan because meat freaks him out from a necromancy standpoint. Ethan is a 27 year old cis gay man, he/him. He is of mixed Russian Ashkenazi Jewish and Korean ancestry. I know you’re wondering: can tritons be catboys? Well, this one can, and he will, and he is.

Mika Bennett is a stunt woman and rising star actress, and one of the missing people the party has been searching for—notably, however, not a sorcerer. She’s a Havana Brown tabaxi and a monk. Mika is famously best friends with Janessa Hansen, and got her breakout acting role after years of stunt work starring alongside her in a film about two best friends driving cross-country to find some meaning to their lives. When she disappeared, Janessa very publicly lamented her absence and put out a call to find her—but only for a couple weeks, before moving on to the next popular issue. Mika has never actually publicly expressed being a member of The Church, despite Janessa being its celebrity darling. Mika is 29 years old, a cis woman (she/her), and is publicly out as bisexual, having appeared in several pride-related ad campaigns since her rise to stardom. She is of mixed ethnicity, with a Jamaican father and Japanese mother.

Gustavo is, for lack of a better term, a mindfulness bro? He’s all about meditation and self improvement but in the most bro-y way possible. He works at Equinox in their spas and he’s super jacked. He’s a half-orc barbarian, but like really chill. He used to have major anger issues in his teens, but he’s really worked on it!! Meditation helped a lot. Now is rage only comes out if someone makes him really, really mad. Or if he gets drunk, but he’s 4 years sober. He had a roommate named Haywood who used to be part of the party of heroes we’ve been following. His kidnapping, which was witness by the group on a subway platform at Union Station, is what brought the original party together and started them down this path. Gustavo is a 26 year old cis gay man, he/him pronouns. He’s a mixed ethnicity first generation Brazilian-American.

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CAST AND CREDITS

Cast

Lalo is a 23 year old multi-racial indigenous trans man (he/him pronouns only, thank you). He’s an irl support class and is still awaiting payment from Disney for stealing his likeness to design Flynn Rider. Find him on twitter @voxespopuli

Seren uses they/them or fae/faer pronouns. They're the party's real life bard and a pleasure to have in class. Find them on twitter @quixotted

Emery uses they/them pronouns. They absolutely love to get silly and are no longer vegan. Find them on twitter @bottom_supreme

Patty uses he/she/they pronouns. She's our super-star editor and LA's messiest (food-wise) drag queen. Find him on instagram @thepattyofurniture

Hunter uses they/them pronouns. They're the world's foremost expert on the feudal peasant diet and have never been charged with assault. Find them on twitter @godrustler

Whims uses he/she/they pronouns. She’s the keeper of the original Long Furby (don’t tell Hasbro) and they’ve never met a DnD 5e rule he couldn’t exploit for personal gain. Find her on twitter @Powerbuilding5e

Credits

Theme song is Spanish Summer by Jason Shaw at audionautix.com

Piccrew credits to djarn, citrus_captain, kmerolzzzz, cosmitasia, adriabun, poika, baydews and bohe. Art of Michael by Carol @cryptidpop

Background image for this site by Noah Fuentes